Fla. Judge Strikes Ex-Chartwell Atty's Sanctions Motion

By Carolina Bolado

An attorney who claims Chartwell Law Offices LLP fired her over social media posts about Gaza won't win sanctions against the firm after a Florida federal judge on Wednesday struck her motion as unfounded and said she would consider monetary sanctions over hallucinated AI citations in the motion.

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Florida Panel Says ADA Doesn't Entitle Pro Se Filer To Use AI

By Matt Perez

A Florida state appeals court on Wednesday sanctioned a pro se filer for using artificial intelligence to generate filings containing misleading arguments and false citations, banning him from making future filings with the court unless they are signed by a member of good standing with the Florida bar.

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Fla. Detention Site Pollutes, Environmental Group Tells Court

By David Minsky

An environmental nonprofit told a Florida federal judge Wednesday that the director of the state's disaster agency illegally authorized a fleet of diesel-burning equipment that pollutes protected land surrounding an Everglades immigrant detention center, leading to violations of the Clean Air Act.

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Fla. Panel Says Confederate Tag Didn't Bias Crash Case Jury

By Elizabeth Daley

A man sentenced for seven crimes in connection with crashing his car into another vehicle was not unfairly prejudiced when the trial court admitted into evidence photos from the crash showing the Confederate flag tag he had affixed to his car, a Florida state appeals court said Wednesday.

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Ex-Judges Urge Court To Scrutinize Trump-IRS Deal

By Jack McLoone

A group of 35 former federal judges pushed for a Florida federal court to reopen President Donald Trump's now-settled $10 billion tax leak case against his own Internal Revenue Service, alleging that Trump and the DOJ deceived the court.

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11th Circ. Told YouTube Copyright Win Doesn't Merit Fees

By Ivan Moreno

A Spanish film production company has urged the Eleventh Circuit to uphold a Florida federal judge's refusal to award YouTube attorney fees after the video platform prevailed in a dispute over pirated movies, arguing that the unsuccessful copyright claims raised a novel legal issue and were brought in good faith.

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Brief

DOL Gets To Argue In 11th Circ. ESOP En Banc Appeal

By Kelcey Caulder

The Eleventh Circuit Wednesday granted the U.S. Department of Labor permission to argue as amicus in support of a seafood company in a worker-side appeal seeking to revive allegations of mismanagement of an employee stock ownership plan, which the full appellate court has agreed to consider in September.

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EV Co. Can Challenge 500% Rate's Constitutionality, CIT Says

By Jack McLoone

An electric golf cart company hit with interim U.S. Customs and Border Protection measures, including an over 500% duty rate on its imports, doesn't need to wait until CBP issues a final determination to bring a due process challenge, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled.

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Pharmacies Beat Fla. Hospitals' Opioids Suit

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida state judge has handed Walmart, Walgreens and CVS a win in a fight with hospitals over treatment of opioid-addicted patients, finding the hospitals cannot recover damages under state racketeering law because their injuries are indirect.

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Live Nation Wants AGs' Discovery To Wait On New Trial Bid

By Bryan Koenig

Live Nation has told a New York federal judge that its bids for a new trial or judgment in its favor should go before state attorneys general to get discovery as they seek the forced divestiture of Ticketmaster to address the live music giant's monopoly.

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Royal Caribbean Can't Avoid Arbitration In Voyeurism Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

A Florida federal judge has adopted a magistrate's recommendation denying arbitration for Royal Caribbean in a suit alleging a now-former employee secretly filmed passengers after placing hidden cameras in their rooms.

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3 Generic Drug Antitrust Deals Totaling $17.9M Get Final Nod

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut federal judge on Wednesday gave final approval to a $17.9 million generic drug price-fixing settlement between pharmaceutical companies Bausch Health US LLC, Bausch Health Americas Inc., and Lannett Co. Inc. and 48 states, territories, and governments, finding the terms reasonable despite an objection.

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Analysis

NFL's High Court Loss Is Lesson For Fair Employee Contracts

By David Steele

The NFL's failed bid at the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a former coach's racial discrimination claims via arbitration serves as a warning to businesses seeking to draft employment contracts with few options and limited rights for workers.

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6 Firms Build DigitalBridge's $1.05B ArcLight Buy

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Digital infrastructure-focused asset manager DigitalBridge Group Inc. on Wednesday announced plans to acquire power and electric infrastructure-focused investor ArcLight Capital Partners in a $1.05 billion deal built by six law firms.

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Spirit OK'd For $275M DIP To Simplify 20-Plane Sale In Ch. 11

By Ben Zigterman

Spirit Airlines received approval Wednesday for $275 million in Chapter 11 financing that aims to simplify the previously approved sale of 20 aircraft to a stalking horse buyer as it seeks to preserve assets during its wind-down.

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6th Circ. Ruling Broadest So Far In Wave Of Habeas Decisions

The Sixth Circuit’s recent opinion in Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft provides the most developed structural reasoning among rulings in a widening circuit split over mandatory detention after undocumented entry into the U.S., and supplies immigration practitioners a template for due process arguments in favor of habeas relief, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

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6th Circ. Ruling Highlights Split On Labor Cost Depreciation

The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Schoening Investment v. Cincinnati Casualty throws into relief the fine lines of courts' varying interpretations of whether a commercial property insurer may justifiably depreciate labor costs to determine the actual cash value of damage, says Nabila Rahim at Zelle.

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Analysis

Meet Biden's Attys Fighting DOJ Release Of Memoir Materials

By Jeff Overley

Former President Joe Biden has selected Hecker Fink LLP lawyers well acquainted with politically charged litigation for his extraordinary new lawsuit accusing the U.S. Department of Justice of orchestrating a congressional inquiry in order to divulge "highly personal" records to the Heritage Foundation.

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Chicago US Atty Revamps Grand Jury Rules After Misconduct

By Parker Quinlan

Chicago's top federal prosecutor announced on Wednesday a new suite of rules for how grand jury investigations are handled after an Illinois federal judge accused the prosecutor's office of misconduct in a case against six immigration activists.

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Pierce Atwood Rips Billionaire's 'Absurd' Suit Over Asset Sale

By Sydney Price

Pierce Atwood and two attorneys urged a Massachusetts federal judge to reject a Ukrainian billionaire's suit blaming them for a $1.8 billion damages order in investor litigation over the billionaire's failed biotech company, saying his own wrongdoing led to the judgment.

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Trump Taps Ohio Appeals Judge For Federal Bench

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday he's nominating state Judge Matthew Byrne as a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Ohio.

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Perkins Coie Docs At Issue In Omani Co.'s Malpractice Case

By Sarah Jarvis

An Oman-based screw and nail manufacturer has urged a Washington state judge to force Perkins Coie LLP to hand over a trove of documents related to the firm's past work representing the Middle Eastern company in a U.S. Department of Commerce probe, saying more information is needed to assess the law firm's defenses against claims its mistakes cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars.

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ProPublica Denied Access To Ranbaxy Antitrust MDL Docs

By Gianna Ferrarin

A Massachusetts federal court denied ProPublica's bid to unseal court filings in settled multidistrict litigation alleging a subsidiary of Indian drugmaker Sun Pharmaceuticals illegally delayed market entry of generic drugs, ruling the nonprofit news organization's request came too late in the case.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Keller Rohrback's Gretchen Freeman Cappio

By Andrea Keckley

By the time Volkswagen was exposed for touting the low emissions of cars that secretly released nitrogen oxide pollutants up to 40 times the legal limit in the U.S., Keller Rohrback LLP's Gretchen Freeman Cappio knew she wasn't interested in defending corporate giants.

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